Golf club display



July 10, 1962 E. G. LOCKIE 3,043,437

GOLF CLUB DISPLAY Filed Dec. 12, 1960 INVEN TOR. E. G. LOCKIE ATTORNE3,043,437 GOLF CLUB DESPLAY vEdward G. Leslie, 4015 Harrison St.,Davenport, Iowa Filed Dec. 12, 1960, Ser. No. 75,302 3 Claims. (Cl.211-60) This invention relates to improvements of golf club displayprimarily as a merchandising or advertising aid and has for a principalobject the provision of simple and effective means for showing inside-by-side relation a golf club outfit consisting of a set of woodsand a set of irons.

It is a feature of the invention to display the clubs in such fashionthat the woods are arranged heads down and shafts up and the irons areheads up and shafts down. An object of the invention in this respect isto provide a lower support or carrier which receives the heads of thewoods in one row and the ends of the shafts or grips of the iron inanother and parallel row and further to provide an upper support orcarrier which has one part adapted to receive the shafts of the woodsand another part adapted to receive the shanks of the irons short of theheads thereof, said parts having club-reciving notches so arranged as tocause the upper portions of the clubs to fan out, thereby improving theattractiveness of the display as well as facilitating removal ofindividual clubs. It is a still further object of the invention toprovide the upper and lower supports or carriers as simple one-pieceseparate parts which may be readily mounted on any suitable support-ingmedium.

The foregoing and other important objects and desirable featuresinherent in and encompassed by the invention will become apparent tothose versed in the art as a preferred embodiment thereof is disclosed,by way of example, in the ensuing description and accompanying drawing,the figures of which are described below.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective of a tyical display of clubs.

FIGURE 2 shows the display means without the clubs.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged plan of the means shown in FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged section on the line 44 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 6 is a section on the line 66 of FIGURE 3.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention chosen for purposes ofillustration, lower and upper supports or carriers 10 and 12,respectively, are shown as fastened in vertically spaced relation and insubstantially vertical alinement to a wall 14, in which respect itshould be observed that any other supporting medium could be used inplace of the wall, such as a post, panel or the like. For the purposesof simplicity, economy and ready commercial acceptance, each carrier isin the form of a one piece casting, here aluminum; although any othermaterial, of course, could be used.

The lower support or carrier 10 may be regarded as a bracket having anupright mounting flange 16 at its rear and an integral tray portion ormeans 18 extending horizontally forwardly therefrom and provided withfirst and second, side-by-side open-top compartments or portions 20 and22, respectively. The flange 16 is provided with a plurality of holes 24through which fasteners, such as screws 26, may be passed to mount thecarrier to the supporting medium. In the example shown, the carrier isspaced slightly above the floor, but this again is a matter of choice,for the carrier could rest on the floor if desired or could be spacedabove the floor at a height other than that shown.

The two compartments 20 and 22 are established by a peripheral uprightwall 28 and a fore-and-aft or lengthwise Wall or rib 30, and thecompartments respectively have floors or bottoms 32 and 34. 'Thecompartment 20 1' ited States atet these woods.

- heads H.

is relatively long and has a lateral dimension smaller than its lengthand its floor 32 has therein a plurality of Dsshaped apertures oropenings 36. The floor 34 of the compartment 22 is shown as having anarrow slot 38 therein for the purpose of minimizing weight, but thisfloor may be imperforate if desired.

The width and length of the compartment 26 are chosen here on the basisof the function of this compartment to receive the heads H of a set ofwoods, here shown as a group or matched set containing Nos. 14 woods andaccordingly there are four of the D-shaped openings 36 in thecompartment floor 32. The woods are arranged heads down and shafts orgrips up and prefer-ably 1-2-3-4 in front-to-rear order. Each opening 36is sized, positioned and shaped to receive the sole and toe portion ofits respective head, and, as seen, each opening is beveled orequivalently shaped about its marginal edge 40 so as to locate itsrespective head. Thus the openings 36 serve as means to locate and spacethe heads of the woods in a single row con-fined to the firstcompartment 20, and the shafts of the woods extend upwardly adjacent tobut vertically beyond the upper carrier 12, which, like the lowercarrier or support, has a vertical mounting flange 42 provided withopenings. 44- to receive screws 46 for mounting same on the supportmedium 14.

The upper carrier has a first part in the form of a shelflike element 48projecting forwardly in partiallygoverhanging but laterally offsetrelation to the head compartment or portion 20, and this part hastherein a plurality of.

notches 50-, here four in number to respectively receive the shafts S ofthe four woods just below the grips G of As best shown in FIGURE 3, thenotches 50 are arranged in laterally spaced apart relation along a linediagonal to the length of the compartment 2%) so that the shafts of thewoods are caused to fan out as depicted in FIGURE 1. Thus, the heads ofthe woods are in -a fore-and-aft row and the upper ends of the shaftsare in a diagonal row. This not only displays the woods to bestadvantage but makes it easy to remove and replace a single club withoutdisturbing the others.

In the preferred form of the one-piece upper support or bracket 12,there is provided a second part 52 in the form of an integral diagonalextension of the first part 48, and this second part is even morelaterally offset relative to the lower support 10, especially asrespects the lower support narrow compartment 22 which receives andsustains the terminal ends of the shafts S of a set of irons, here Nos.28, having their heads H uppermost. The width of the compartment 22 issuch that the ends of grips G of the irons are confined to a singlefore-and-aft row paralleling the row of heads H of the woods. Obviously,the slot 38 is narrow enough to prevent the clubs from dropping through.

The forward or outer edge of the second upper carrier part 52 isprovided with eight notches 54 for respectively receiving the shafts Sof the irons just short of the The diagonal disposition-of the part 52and the spacing of the notches 54 therein causes the heads H of theirons to fan out in a distinctive pattern enphasized by the fact thatthe irons are arranged in descending order (Nos. 82) from front to rear,so that the shortest club is foremost etc., and further by the fact thatthese clubs are caused to incline to one side (to the left as seen here)so that the weight of each club swings the club about the axis of itsshaft to present its back face to the front. In the overall pattern, theback faces of the clubs occupy what may be regarded as a shingledrelationship.

One advantage here, in addition to enabling ready removal andreplacement of the individual clubs, is that the manufacturers name,trademark, model number etc. appear on the back face and these are thusreadily visible 3 to the prospective customer. The same is true of thewoods in the sense that the manufacturers name appears on the top of thehead and this is likewise readily visible since the Woods are displayedas aforesaid. Moreover, the customer can also easily estimate thelengths of the clubs.

In the particular design shown, the carrier 12 has an integral dependingrib 56 running below and therefore adding strength to the integralsupport parts 43 and 52.

It will be seen from the description and drawings that the displayprovides means in the form of the compartments or portions 20 and 22 forsupporting the sets of clubs at their lower ends in two rows and furthermeans in the form of the notched parts 48 and 52 for supporting theupper portions of the clubs in rows angled to the lower rows, whereby toproduce the advantages and features already outlined. The angling of theopenings 36, in addition to the shapes thereof as fitting the respectiveheads, assures the proper placement of the woods in the displayarrangement, especially in combination with the diagonal or anglednotched part 48. Of course, fewer or more clubs could be displayed bythe same means, as could one set without the other, for example.

Further benefits will readily suggest themselves to those versed in theart, as will various modifications in the preferred structure disclosed,all without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. Means for displaying golf clubs as a set of woods arranged heads downand grips up and a set of irons arranged heads up and grips down,comprising: a lower support adapted to be afiixed to a wall or the likeand including a generally horizontal outwardly projecting tray meanshaving first and second side-by-side open top and generally parallelcompartments, said first compartment being elongated in an outwarddirection and of such lateral dimension as to receive and supporttherein the heads of the woods in a single row and said secondcompartment being similarly elongated in said direction but relativelynarrower to receive and support the terminal ends of the grips of theirons in another row generally parallel to the row of woods; and anupper support positionable on such wall or the like in spaced relationabove and partly overhanging the lower support and including first andsecond outwardly projecting parts respectively cooperative with saidfirst and second compartments, said first part projecting outwardly alesser distance than and being latterally olfset from verticalalinemen-t with said first compartment and having therein a plurality ofoutwardly opening notches for respectively receiving the grips of thewoods so that the shafts of the woods incline both inwardly andlaterally, and said second part being further laterally ofiset beyondboth the first part and the second compartment and having therein aplurality of outwardly opening notches for respectively receiving theshanks of the irons, with the heads of the irons above said second partso that the shafts of the irons incline both inwardly and also laterallyof the shafts of the woods.

2. The invention defined in claim 1, in which: the notches in the firstpart are arranged in a row generally horizontally diagonally to thelength of the first compartment so as to cause the grips of the woods toline up in a row diagonal to the row of heads of said woods, and thenotches in the second part are greater in number than those in the firstpart and are also arranged in a row generally horizon-tally diagonallyto the length of the second compartment and substantially as acontinuation of the row of notches in the first to cause the heads ofthe irons to line up substantially with the row of grips of the woods.

3. Means for displaying golf clubs as a set of Woods arranged heads downand grips up and a set of irons arranged heads up and grips down,comprising: a generally horizontal lower support adapted to be afiixedto a wall or the like and having first and second side-by-side andgenerally parallel support portions, said first portion being elongatedoutwardly from such wall or the like and of such lateral dimension as toreceive and support therein the heads of the woods in a single row andsaid second portion being similarly elongated in the same direction butrelatively narrower to receive and support the terminal ends of thegrips of the irons in another row generally parallel to the row ofwoods; and an upper support positionable on such wall or the like inspaced relation above the lower support and including first and secondparts respectively cooperative with said first and second portions, saidfirst part being laterally oifset to one side from a position ofvertical alinement with said first portion and having therein aplurality of outwardly opening notches for respectively receiving thegrips of the Woods, and said second part being laterally offset to thesame side as and beyond the first part and having therein a plurality ofoutwardly opening notches for respectively receiving the shanks of theirons, with the heads of the irons above said second part.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS291,704 Felch Jan. 8, 1884 676,573 Bowers June 18, 1901 1,277,200 DavisAug. 27, 1918 1,719,360 Deike July 2, 1929 2,308,533 Owen Jan. 19, 19432,487,441 Heilbronn Nov. 8, 1949 2,520,226 Smith Aug. 29, 1950 2,753,189Oonroy July 3, 1956

